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Features

Twists and Turns of Copyright Litigation Over <i>Jersey Boys</i> Musical Reach Latest Stage Image

Twists and Turns of Copyright Litigation Over <i>Jersey Boys</i> Musical Reach Latest Stage

Vincent Peppe

Since 2007, the development of the musical has been the source of protracted litigation that reached its latest stage in June 2017.

Features

<b><i>Online Extra</b></i><br> 9th Circuit 'Dancing Baby' Decision Will Stand Image

<b><i>Online Extra</b></i><br> 9th Circuit 'Dancing Baby' Decision Will Stand

Scott Graham

The Supreme Court let stand a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision that said issuers of takedown notices aren't liable under the DMCA unless they actually knew that the material did not infringe their copyright, or were willfully blind to that knowledge.

Columns & Departments

Supreme Court News Image

Supreme Court News

ljnstaff & Law Journal Newsletters

'Disparaging' Trademarks Decision<br>High Court Declines Takedown Notice/Fair Use Case

Columns & Departments

Bit Parts Image

Bit Parts

Stan Soocher

Mash-Up of Dr. Seuss/Star Trek Components Is a Fair Use

Features

Drake Wins on Sampling Fair Use; Plaintiffs' Song Ownership Muddy Image

Drake Wins on Sampling Fair Use; Plaintiffs' Song Ownership Muddy

Vincent Peppe

While copyright registration normally constitutes prima facie evidence of copyright ownership, the court noted that the estate had registered the song copyright 31 years after it was originally published and only in response to the defendants' sampling of the song on Drake's album.

Features

Supreme Court Won't Take 'Who's on First' Copyright Case Image

Supreme Court Won't Take 'Who's on First' Copyright Case

P.J. D'Annunzio & Stan Soocher

First the copyright infringement case over the use of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First" routine in a Broadway play was dismissed by a New York federal judge. Then it rounded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, but was tagged out again. Now, in its third at bat, the lawsuit struck out with the U.S. Supreme Court declining to review the case.

Features

Angry Fed. Judge Throws Out Song Infringement Suit Image

Angry Fed. Judge Throws Out Song Infringement Suit

Celia Ampel

A Miami company's decision to defend a small-potatoes copyright case all the way to trial paid off when the case was dismissed after a few hours — by an angry federal judge.

Features

Fourth Circuit to Weigh ISP Copyright Liability for Peer-to-Peer File Sharing by Subscribers Image

Fourth Circuit to Weigh ISP Copyright Liability for Peer-to-Peer File Sharing by Subscribers

J. Alexander Lawrence & Abigail L. Colella

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals is gearing up to hear argument in <i>BMG Rights Management v. Cox Communications</i>, one of the first attempts by the music industry to hold an ISP liable for unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing by its subscribers.

Features

Can Instagram Post of Photo Become Transformative? Image

Can Instagram Post of Photo Become Transformative?

Andrew Denney

An enlarged print of an Instagram post containing a copyrighted photo counts as a transformative use, an attorney for "appropriation artist" Richard Prince — whose use of other artists' material in his own works has made him no stranger to the courts — argued before a New York federal judge in April.

Features

Supreme Court Rules on Design of a Useful Article Image

Supreme Court Rules on Design of a Useful Article

Samantha Barber

Fashion, furniture, and other design-oriented companies will take note of the Supreme Court's recent decision in <i>Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc.</i>, which resolved a division among the federal circuits on the issue of the separability of designs of useful articles under the Copyright Act.

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